(Panic)Does anybody agree?

[betandjon]

Hi all like minded panickers,as somebody who had their first panic attack 30 years ago i firmly think it all starts with the first attack and how quickly you get over it.When i had my first attack it knocked me for six but in those days nobody had ever heard of a panic attack including gp's the doctors then would refer people straight to a psychiatrist or dose you up with Valium (no change there then).My feeling is that because the onset of an attack is so fearful that we live with an irrational fear of having another one so as we avoid all the normal places and lose friends on the way we live our lives with this fear festering in our minds which then leads to everything attatched to panic,anxiety,agoraphobia,etc,etc,but going back to my first time for an attack in the70,s panic wasn't heard of so didn't stay with me after first attack as i hadn't known what happened to me it was only when i knew what it was did it start reoccuring which proves to me that it's all in the mind----just think if a panic attack had the same feeling as an orgasm would we fear it but after all it is still only a feeling, it has ruined my life but it never hurt me. When we realise it's all in the mind and throw the tablets away we will be on the road to recovery. i also think it is hard to stay in a relationship as it is very difficult for anybody to understand what we go through can you blame them? John aged 60. keep up the good fight

[DavidJ85]

Couldn't agree with you more John!

I only hope I can get my girlfriend to understand it all someday.

Maybe sooner or later I'll get over it but the mind is such a powerful thing it takes over most of the time :(

[doodah]

Couldn't agree with you more John! My first panic attack was just over 30 years ago too - I wish it had been explained better to me back then. Still, it's not too late, is it!

Wendy

[teez]

my first panic attack was over twenty years ago,,and yes its held me back ever since,,,im so angry at myself and it,,,,lol i do see it as an it,,,increasingly as the enemy,, i must repel at all costs,,silly really cos even i know the more i fight this the worse it gets

[pollyanna]

i agree too, my first one was over 20 years ago too, and if i had understood, or it had been explained i may have been in a better place now, still i cant turn the clock back, so have to do what i can now , but very difficult when things are ingrained after such a long time....

P x

[pd]

Wow, I've been having attacks for such a short time compared to some of you. I had two years between my first and second panic attack, but they've been almost weekly at best since then... but that's only been a couple of years. Athough looking back I've had anxiety issues, particularly health anxiety for as long as I can remember. I didn't have an actual panic attack untill summer '05. I didn't have another one till two years later, which was health anxiety related, but they've been pretty constant since then. I feel like I need to get on top of it before it takes over my life, I don't want to be looking back in 30 years time and thinking if only I'd sorted it out now... I can't say how much I admire the people who've dealt with this for so long, and with such little help back then, it must have been/still be so difficult. It's never too late!